Baytown: Melaine Troxel preview

TOP FUEL POINTS LEADER TROXEL REALISTIC ABOUT HER HOT STREAK
BAYTOWN, Texas (March 28, 2006) - Melanie Troxel is a savvy, smart
competitor. She doesn't give an inch when it comes to racing in the premier
category of the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing...

TOP FUEL POINTS LEADER TROXEL REALISTIC ABOUT HER HOT STREAK

BAYTOWN, Texas (March 28, 2006) - Melanie Troxel is a savvy, smart
competitor. She doesn't give an inch when it comes to racing in the premier
category of the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series. And, after reaching the
final round in each of the four last Top Fuel events, including the first
three of 2006, winning once, and leading the points standings by 73 points
despite a 25-point penalty for oildowns, she's wise enough to know that hot
streaks can cool down.

This weekend's O'Reilly NHRA Spring Nationals at Houston Raceway brings her
again to a venue she hasn't competed on in several seasons. This is one
challenge she'll face here in her first full season of Top Fuel competition
since rejoining Don Schumacher Racing midway through 2005. Another is as a
target for other Top Fuel racers to aim at as they attempt to topple her off
the podium.

The Colorado native who drives the Skull Gear/Torco Race Fuels Top Fuel
Dragster was disappointed at losing the last event, in Gainesville, Fla.,
until reality set in and she realized that, despite a runner-up finish, she
had made a stunning leap in the points standings, from 14 ahead to 73 ahead.

"It's kind of funny," she says. "Regardless of how things are going, when
you don't win in a final round, you have that natural instinct to be
disappointed for a while about it. But you really have to take a reality
check and let that disappointment wear off and appreciate the fact that we
are leading the points, we're running very consistently, and we're going a
lot of rounds.

"When we said earlier in the year that our goal was to have a legitimate
shot at the championship late in the year we couldn't have asked for a
better start to the season. The consistency of going rounds is way more
important than winning any one individual event.

"I think it would be unrealistic for me to say that we can keep going to
every final round for the rest of the year. I'm sure we will have those
weekends where we go out first round. We're bound to have those. But I
certainly think that we have something going right now, whether it's
chemistry within the Skull Gear/Torco Race Fuels team or a really good
handle on the tune-up that (crew chief) Richard Hogan has right now. I
certainly expect to continue that in Houston.

"I think we have a great race car and we will continue to go rounds, barring
one of those inevitable bad weekends that you have here or there. I think
right now we have the best race team on the circuit."

As for Houston Raceway, "It's a place where we've seen big ETs and big
speeds," she says. "That's always exciting. The facility and the track
surface are great, so we're looking forward to seeing what the performance
of the car will be and what we can do with it."